Commonly, stoves are configured for use with gas or electric burners exposed through openings in the top cooking plate. A more recent innovation involves "smooth top" stoves, i.e., stoves having electric burners mounted beneath an imperforate, substantially flat cooking plate made of special, high-temperature glass.
Irrespective of the specific type of burner and configuration of the cooking plate, it is common to mount the cooking plate to the supporting stove structure by means of some type of frame. At the least, the frame covers and masks the edges of the stove structure and the cooking plate and provides a finished product of attractive appearance.
One approach to cooking plate mounting is disclosed in European Patent Office (EPO) document EP 0 391 122 A2. Such document discloses a frame having four planar portions. The cooking plate is secured between two of such portions, namely, between a covering portion and a carrier portion that are parallel to each other. The covering section and the carrier section are connected to the cross piece as one piece. The frame with its supported cooking plate are mounted in an installation housing configured so that there is space below the cooking plate.
While such cooking plate mounting arrangements have been generally satisfactory, they are not without disadvantages. One disadvantage of the arrangement disclosed in the above-noted EPO document is that a great deal of care and effort is required in order to manufacture such a mounting support and to attach it to the cooking surface. One reason this is so is that the frame cannot be made as a single piece since it would not then be possible to fit the cooking plate between the covering and carrier portions on all four sides. Of course, this translates into higher manufacturing costs and consumer prices.
Another disadvantage of the arrangement disclosed in the above-noted EPO document is that there is very little dimensional "forgiveness." That is, the component parts used to make the frame and the cooking plate must be held to close tolerances or they cannot be properly assembled.
Still another disadvantage of the arrangement disclosed in the above-noted EPO document is that the frame and cooking plate mount rigidly to one another. There is no cushioning of the cooking plate in the frame.
A new mounting support and related method which addresses shortcomings of the prior art would be a distinct technological advance in the art.